UC Berkeley Press Release

BERKELEY — This
five-part series presents a portrait of the UC Berkeley
undergraduate student body, based on recent surveys
conducted by the university. In this final installment
we look at freshmen and transfer students, comparing
their respective backgrounds and experiences on campus,
both academic and social.

UC Berkeley's academic reputation and the stiff competition
for admission are sources of agida for many new freshmen in the weeks
prior to their move to campus. Asked to name the one thing that most
concerned them about starting at Berkeley, from a list of 20 common worries - from
getting along with roommates to finding affordable housing and financing
their education - the top worries were "being able to excel at Berkeley
the way I excelled in high school" (chosen by 28%) and "being able to
maintain a high enough GPA" (14%).

Among new
freshmen, the most popular intended major is business
administration - a
practical choice, considering that 31% expect that
they and/or their parents will need to repay $20,000
in educational loans by the time they graduate from
Berkeley. "Business administration is apparently the
most popular major in the nation," notes David Radwin
of the Office of Student Research (OSR). "Only two
other UC campuses offer it, however, so there are probably
some students who choose Berkeley especially to major
in business."

Freshman facts

• 18%
of new freshmen report that their parents are divorced
or living apart

• Polled
in summer 2007, 98% percent of incoming freshmen planned
to bring a cell phone to campus, 96% a laptop computer, 88%
an iPod or another portable digital music player

Molecular and cell biology is the second
most popular intended major; third ranked is Middle
Eastern Studies (which never before made the top five),
tied with engineering and engineering science. Electrical
engineering and computer sciences came in fourth, political
science fifth.

Among transfer students, English is the
most popular intended major, followed, in order, by
economics, molecular and cell biology, business administration,
and mass communications. All these stats on intended
major come with the caveat that many students change
their minds by their junior year, when they're required
to declare a major.

Transfer students in focus

'At
Cal there’s a lot of pressure, because it's
one of the finer research universities in the country,
and that can be intimidating. You come here thinking
everyone’s
a genius but you. And then you realize it’s
just normal school, and people are people.'

— Caitlin
Garvey, transfer student majoring in comparative
literature

'You
get here, and suddenly you start getting marked
down for things that no one has marked you down
for. It’s very shocking,
it’s very jarring. You get angry at first....
And then you stop and realize well, that’s
the point of coming here, now you will get better.'

— Lisa
Morgan, transfer student majoring in English

Transfer
students differ somewhat from their freshman-admit
counterparts in terms of family background: 31% of
transfers come from low-income households (where parents'
combined annual income is less than $35,000, compared
to 23% of incoming freshmen. And where about a quarter
of freshman admits were born outside the U.S., nearly
two-fifths of transfers are foreign born. (Likewise,
while for 55% of new freshmen both parents were born
in the United States, that's true for only 44% of transfer
students.) Enrollment figures for fall 2007 show that
19% of new transfer students are underrepresented minorities
(American Indian, African American, and Chicano/Latino),
vs. 16% of new freshmen.

'I
feel like I've done it on my
own, with the help of those I've met along
the way. I'm in a position now where I can look
back on my path and say "How can I help
others?" Whether returning to college after
being out of high school for 10+ years, or
having children between high school and going
back to college, a lot of [non-traditional] students
feel that way.'

How do transfers
compare to their peers in terms of how they use their
time - on work,
study, family life, campus activities - and
to what degree they're satisfied with their social
and academic experience at Berkeley? For one, be it because
of a slightly higher average age (21), family or work
obligations, or other factors, transfer students are
less likely than freshman admits to participate in
student clubs or organizations (49% for transfers vs.
71% for freshmen).

Whether
or not they participate in student organizations, most
new students (69% of new transfers and 76% of new freshmen)
say they're satisfied with their overall social experience
at Berkeley. Asked whether, knowing what they
now know, they would still enroll at Berkeley, transfers
students, by a very slight margin, are more likely
to answer in the affirmative (88% of transfers, vs.
87% for their fellow undergrads). The large majority
of both groups (87% of freshman admits and 83% of transfer
students) feel they "belong" at
Berkeley.

Berkeley transfer students study about 10%
more hours than freshman admits - about
17 hours per week compared to 15 for freshman admits - although
freshman admits spend about one more hour per week
in class than transfer students. Those who enter as
freshman are significantly more likely to participate
in research with faculty than transfer students (40%
vs. 25%).

'We often hear from transfer students
that participating in student organizations is
last on their list. If they're going to be spending
time, it's usually on something related to their
major or something they need at home. It's going
to be more related to survival.'

— Eva
Rivas, director,
Transfer, Re-entry, and
Student Parent Center

Close to half of new students of both categories
work to help support themselves, and they're increasingly
likely to do so as they advance through the ranks.
Transfer students often give themselves a break from
work their first semester on campus - but
then start working again in earnest, as they feel the
financial pinch.

"Sometimes the financial aid doesn't help as
much as they thought it would," notes
Eva Rivas, director of the campus's Transfer, Re-entry,
and Student Parent Center. "They have to do something
on the side."

When
transfer students do work, they spend, on average,
two more hours at their jobs each week than do freshman
admits. Transfers also spend more time commuting to
school and work - five hours per week, compared to
three for non-transfer students.

According to Debbie Ellis of the Office of Student
Research, graduation rates have been improving steadily
for transfers, as they have for freshman admits. "More
and more transfers are graduating in two years," she
says, with the two-year graduation rate now at an all-time
high in stats dating back to the early 1980s.